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10th November 2008 Archive

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  • Sun trumpets radically simple open storage boxes

    Ease on down that Amber Road

    The high priests of open storage have finally delivered products for our approbation, three of them. Sun's radically new 7000 line of storage appliances combines embedded servers, drive arrays and a comprehensive open storage software stack in a low-priced bundle. Will customers take the bait? Feeds Feast on this; the three …

    Storage 10 Nov 2008, 05:02

  • Of Dell's self-encrypting laptop

    Never lose notebook data ever again UPDATED

    Never lose notebook data again. Not if you have a Dell notebook: the company is producing self-encrypting laptops with Seagate encrypting drives and McAfee security software. Seagate is now shipping 5400 and 7200 rpm Momentus notebook drives with 320 and 500GB capacity and full disk encryption options. This is AES 128-bit US …

    Enterprise Security 10 Nov 2008, 07:02

  • Pioneer DVR-116D multi-format DVD rewriter

    Review Turning the burn dial up to 11

    The current maximum write speed on a DVD±R is 16x, so Pioneer’s 20x drive has to be doing something special. Using 16x media, you should be able to see up to 25 per cent extra read and write speed. When recordable CD was introduced, it moved quickly from single-speed to 54x and beyond, but recordable DVDs haven’t accelerated …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 09:02

  • The 4 terabyte Violin

    Flash memory appliance speeds past RamSan 500

    Violin Memory's 1010 memory appliance is at last available with flash memory instead of DRAM. Positioned as a networked tier zero storage resource, it is said to be faster than solid state drives tucked in storage array drive shelves. The 1010 DRAM-based memory appliance was launched in August 2007. At that time the flash …

    Storage 10 Nov 2008, 09:02

  • Google's Schmidt not looking for a new job

    So who will be America's Next CTO?

    Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said he was not interested in becoming chief technology officer for the nation under President Barack Obama. Obama gained decent support from Silicon Valley and intends to appoint a national CTO to improve the US government's use of technology. He also supports net neutrality, improvements to US …

    Government 10 Nov 2008, 09:43

  • Buffer overflow bug bites Linux wireless component

    Proximity hack threat sparks security update

    A security flaw involving a wireless driver poses a severe risk for Linux-based systems. The buffer overflow bug in NDISwrapper's Windows Wi-Fi driver kicks in when a long Extended Service Set Identifier (ESSID) is processed. The flaw could be used to crash vulnerable systems. In certain conditions, it might even be possible …

    Enterprise Security 10 Nov 2008, 09:56

  • DSGi denies Electro World 'up for sale' rumours

    All part of the same ongoing review

    Electrical retail giant DSGi has denied a report that suggests the firm has put its unprofitable European store chain Electro World up for sale. According to the Sunday Times, DSGi, which owns PC World and Currys in the UK and has a number of well-known electrical store brands throughout Europe, is in the process of selling …

    Channel Register 10 Nov 2008, 10:39

  • Acer to look past Atom for Aspire One stablemate?

    Pull your finger out, Intel

    A sign of ongoing weak supplies of Intel's Atom - or a signal to the chip giant that it needs to pull its fabrication finger out. Whatever, Acer has hinted it may look elsewhere for its next netbook processor. According to OEM sources cited by DigiTimes, Acer might go for an AMD CPU, or it might turn to VIA for the the machine …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 10:44

  • EMC's cloud technology erupts into view

    Maui lands on Hulk

    Maui is erupting and its product is called Atmos. This is pretty appropriate as it's a cloud computing product and Atmos is atmosphere minus the spherical bit. It's not a blow-your-socks-off eruption like Mount St Helens - it's more like one of those Hawaiian volcanoes that just start up and steadily pour out lava. In fact EMC …

    Storage 10 Nov 2008, 10:55

  • Ancient galaxies pose for the camera

    Fetching ultraviolet snap of deep, deep space

    The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (aka ESO, or European Southern Observatory) has released a rather fetching snap of distant galaxies posing in the U-band - the boundary between visible light and ultraviolet - which shows some clusters of stars so old that they're seen "as they were …

    Space 10 Nov 2008, 11:09

  • IBM chief talks change, and a little politics

    Sam Palmisano says we can fix stuff - with IT, of course

    IT executives are a funny group. They are usually like broken Magic 8 balls. Whenever you shake them up - perhaps with a financial crisis or a new political reality - they always say the same thing: more IT will fix our problems. But every now and then when you shake the ball, you get a slightly different set of answers than you …

    Servers 10 Nov 2008, 11:29

  • Ex-IBMer and new iPod boss ordered to stop work

    Quit shuffling around

    Mark Papermaster has been ordered by a US District Court judge in New York to stop work immediately in his new role at Apple as he could be violating an agreement with his former employer, IBM. Papermaster, who replaced Tony Fadell as the new boss of Apple’s iPod and iPhone division last week, was told by Federal District …

    Financial News 10 Nov 2008, 11:49

  • Xmas launch uncertain for GTA IV Xbox downloads

    Release date announcement coming soon

    Xbox 360 gamers hoping to download a fresh slice of Grand Theft Auto IV action this Christmas could be disappointed. Game developer Rockstar is unsure if downloadable content (DLC) for the title will be released this year after all. GTA IV DLC is exclusive to the Xbox 360 and thought to consist of two chunks. Little’s known …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 11:50

  • Pakistan threatens death penalty for 'cyber-terrorists'

    Sabre rattling to prevent nuclear espionage

    Pakistan has enacted hard-line cybercrime laws that establish the death penalty for cyber-terrorism offences that lead to the death of victims. The law stipulates that "Whoever commits the offence of cyber terrorism and causes death of any person shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and with fine". …

    Government 10 Nov 2008, 11:54

  • US stocks up on semi-automatic rifles

    Obama menaces right to bear Kalashnikovs

    US gun dealers are enjoying a boom in sales of semi-automatic rifles amid fears that Barack Obama may clamp down on selling certain firearms once he's settled into the White House, Reuters reports. David Greenberg, owner of the splendidly-named Second Amendment Family Gun Shop, in Bisbee, Arizona, told the news agency: "The …

    Government 10 Nov 2008, 12:06

  • iPod cans menace pacemakers

    Bluetooth no heart-stopper, however

    US researchers have warned that the magnets in iPod headphones and those used by other MP3 devices "may interfere with heart pacemakers and implantable defibrillators". A team led by Dr William Maisel of the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston tested eight models of MP3 cans on 60 …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 2008, 12:14

  • MP3 player cans pose pacemaker risk

    Headphones from personal music players can interfere with pacemakers or implanted defibrillators, a medical trial has concluded. The American Heart Association (AHA) found that magnets used inside some headphones designs, including clip-on models and earphones, can potentially interrupt a pacemaker’s beat or deactivate a …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 12:15

  • Recession forces C&W bosses to keep it together

    Stock market chaos blamed

    Cable & Wireless is delaying its split into two businesses, blaming crazy market conditions rather than its own trading. The company was expecting to split off its Europe, Asia & US business from the rest of the group, but has now postponed a final decision while the markets sort themselves out. Richard Lapthorne, chairman at …

    Financial News 10 Nov 2008, 12:26

  • Iowa: How the vote was won

    USA '08 The view from the front line

    It's 5am on election day. I awake late from a short, fitful nap. I decided I would need all the symbols of authority I could muster, so I put on my best suit, a heavily starched white shirt, an Armani tie and, spoiling the whole look, running shoes. Another PEO, an eccentric sculptor, gave me a decorative badge he fashioned from …

    Government 10 Nov 2008, 12:28

  • Universities reject Stasi role

    We don't want to spy on students

    New immigration rules which will force university staff to report foreign students who miss lectures are unfair and will damage relations between lecturers and students, academics say. From next March lecturers will be expected to report to the Borders Agency any students from outside the EU who miss lectures or seminars or …

    Law 10 Nov 2008, 12:54

  • Nvidia unveils $3499 4GB graphics card

    Oil barons only, please

    Nvidia has extended its line of ridiculously priced Quadro graphics cards with a new model that packs on 4GB of graphics memory. The GPU maker didn't provide core and memory clock frequencies, but it did say the Quadro FX 5800 card's memory bus has a 102GB/s bandwidth - just under 33 per cent more than the previous range …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 12:56

  • Asus N10 notebook-not-netbook

    Review Best of both worlds - or the worst?

    How do you approach the Asus N10? With its 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 10.2in screen, it's a netbook. But it's not small, it's not cheap and it runs Windows Vista Business. So is it a notebook? There's no question, however, that this notebook-not-netbook is a very sexy laptop that has 'premium product' stamped all …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 13:02

  • Replicating DNA

    Stob Digital watches and dolphins all round

    "Fans of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy are likely to react strongly to the announcement that Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer has been given the green light to write a sixth book in the series" - El Reg "It's Marilyn, isn't it? You're the new assistant? Come on in and sit yourself down." The religious affairs …

    Verity Stob 10 Nov 2008, 13:02

  • Microsoft slashes Visual Studio prices for 2010 sign-ups

    One-package Office development

    Microsoft is today expected to unveil deep discounts along with features for Visual Studio 2010 to encourage uptake and ease the headache of rolling out applications for different flavors of Office. The company will reveal tools it said would let you deploy applications to different versions of Office running on 32- and 64-bit …

    Developer 10 Nov 2008, 13:02

  • Michael Dell sells you some s**t you don't need

    Fail and You Dude, I'm desperate

    Michael Dell will never miss an opportunity to sell you some shit you don't need. Attendees of this year's Dreamforce conference saw a first hand demonstration of this, having to sit through about an hour's worth of of Dell's Always-Be-Closing pitch. Trying his hardest to look like Steve Jobs, Dell successfully turned the …

    Developer 10 Nov 2008, 13:02

  • O2 unpeels XDA Zest

    No lemon?

    With Christmas just around the corner, O2 has decided to try and tempt punters into its Xda smartphone family with a juicy little talker called Zest. O2's Xda Zest: a fruity little talker? The phone sports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity - one up on the BlackBerry Storm, then - and support for 3G. When out and about, you’ll be …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 13:06

  • Visa trials PIN payment card to fight online fraud

    Updated Banks build one-time generator into plastic

    Visa cards with a built in one-time code generator are to be trialled by four European banks. The technology is designed to tackle the growing problem of online credit card fraud. MBNA, a Bank of America company in the UK, Corner Bank in Switzerland, Cal in Israel and IW Bank in Italy are to take part in limited trials of Visa …

    ID 10 Nov 2008, 13:35

  • Agile Software Development: Is it right for you?

    Reg Reader Workshop Forget the hype: here’s the truth

    If there’s one thing software development has never been short of, it’s the more evangelical proponents of some methodology or another. It’s a tough one – because such types are not necessarily wrong, in principle at least. The trouble often comes when the rest of us cack-handed mortals actually try to implement whatever is …

    Workshop 10 Nov 2008, 13:44

  • Rebel Nominet director calls for the heads of Chairman and CEO

    .uk in disarray

    A bitter boardroom battle at Nominet, the not-for-profit company in charge of the .uk domain registry, has escalated, with non-executive director Jim Davies calling for the resignation of its Chairman and CEO. In an email last week Davies challenged Chairman Bob Gilbert and CEO Lesley Cowley to leave office and open their …

    Telecoms 10 Nov 2008, 14:34

  • Gary Glitter expelled from GCSE paper

    Inappropriate 'related listening'

    Convicted paedophile Gary Glitter has been excised from a GCSE music coursework paper which listed his glamtastic 1970 hit I’m The Leader Of The Gang as “related listening” to be enjoyed by wide-eyed teens. The outrage was spotted by an anonymous deputy headteacher and father of two from Windsor on the Assessment and …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 2008, 14:41

  • Circuit City files for bankruptcy protection

    Begs for mercy under Chapter 11

    Beleaguered US consumer electronics retail giant Circuit City today filed for bankruptcy protection. The firm said that its business and 17 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with the US bankruptcy court in the Eastern District of Richmond, Virginia, where Circuit City’s headquarters are based. The …

    Channel Register 10 Nov 2008, 14:43

  • Japan gets build-your-own-dog robot kit

    The G-Dog

    “A dog’s for life and not just for Christmas,” most animal lovers proclaim around this time of year. But how about one that you can take to bits and shove in a cupboard when you get bored with it? G-Dog is an animal/techno lover's delight G-Robots’ G-Dog isn’t as cute as the Andrex puppy, but the mechanical pet can perform …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 14:48

  • Plasmon plc sheds staff as investor bails out

    US private equity funder gets cold feet UPDATED

    The US private equity-funded buyout of Plasmon's US operation has failed, leaving Plasmon plc in tatters. The Kroll administrators are searching for a new company buyer. On Friday a transfer of working capital cash was supposed to be made from Plasmon LLC in Broomfield, Colorado to Plasmon plc in Melbourn, England. But …

    Storage 10 Nov 2008, 14:56

  • Ofcom slaps down Phones4U

    Updated 'Illegal' terms and conditions

    UK regulator Ofcom has completed an investigation into miss-selling at Phones4U, and concluded that the high street retailer had concocted terms and conditions that were illegal, as well as giving potential customers bad advice. The investigation was opened in May in response to complaints from the public and in conjunction …

    Mobile 10 Nov 2008, 15:01

  • Toshiba launches Cell-derived HD TV

    No Cell inside, though

    Thanks to some careful wording, Toshiba’s been able to launch the "world’s first upscaling TV". Toshiba's Regza ZV: with Resolution Plus Don’t be fooled by its use of the English language though, because the Regza ZV 1920 x 1080p screen’s actually the world’s first upscaling telly... to feature Toshiba’s Resolution Plus …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 15:06

  • MPs: Fight grog-fuelled crimewave with PDAs

    Analysis BlackBerry bluebottle node-plods to hit the streets

    The Home Affairs parliamentary committee has today published its report into UK law enforcement, Policing in the 21st Century. In it, the MPs of the committee make a wide-ranging examination of future British policing. We've chosen to focus mainly on booze and technology. Before getting onto the rise of the networked copper, …

    Law 10 Nov 2008, 15:20

  • Dell may zap the Zing

    Report says firm has iced MP3 player

    Dell is reportedly ditching plans to launch its digital music player tied to online entertainment software before Christmas. In fact it could be shelving the MP3 warbler indefinitely. The Wall Street Journal cites a person familiar with the matter to have confirmed Dell’s decision to delay the release of its mini MP3 player, …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 2008, 15:32

  • Imation to sack 200 people

    Storage vendor chases 10% operating expense reduction

    Optical disk and tape media supplier Imation is to cut its operating expenses 10 per cent by the end of 2009 and eliminate 200 staff from its worldwide operations. It's implementing a previously-announced restructuring strategy in the light of poor results. President and CEO Frank Russomanno said: "Given our year-to-date …

    Channel Register 10 Nov 2008, 15:40

  • iPhone beats RIM for reliability, sales, consumer favour

    Jesus Phone fans, rejoice

    Apple's iPhone 3G was the US' most popular consumer handset in Q3, helping the company become the world's number two smartphone supplier in the same quarter. Oh, and business users reckon the iPhone more reliable that BlackBerries and Palms. Market watcher NPD today revealed that during Q3, the iPhone brought to an end the …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 15:51

  • Sun Java piggybacks Microsoft searchbar, divorces Google

    The old checked-by-default trick

    Sun is now distributing Microsoft's Live Search toolbar atop its Java Runtime Environment, after parting ways with Google's browserware. According to Sun's press release, Internet Explorer users downloading Sun's JRE "have the option" of downloading the MSN toolbar too. But it's worth noting that the install-Microsoft-app …

    Applications 10 Nov 2008, 16:02

  • PlusNet customer invited to opt-in to BT's Phorm trial

    Oops

    A PlusNet subscriber was surprised this morning to be invited to join Phorm's latest "WebWise" targeted advertising trial, despite assurances that only BT's own customers would be asked for permission to intercept their web browsing. A PlusNet spokesman said the incident was a one-off, caused by a configuration error. …

    Telecoms 10 Nov 2008, 16:02

  • Furore as Sony flunks gamers' LittleBigPlanet levels

    Did you read the EULA?

    LittleBigPlanet online players are in uproar over Sony's decision to delete user-created levels if they violate the copyright clauses in the game's Ts&Cs. The recently released title’s official online forum has become overrun with posts from gamers, each anxious to know why their lovingly crafted levels have been deleted from …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 2008, 16:02

  • Brocade jacks up expectations

    Surprisingly strong last quarter shock

    Storage networking supplier Brocade is parting company from its downbeat and depressed competitors by saying it hopes to report sparkling results for its fourth quarter. It expects to report revenues of approximately $396m to $400m for the fourth fiscal quarter ended October 25, 2008, above the range of $375m to $385m …

    Storage 10 Nov 2008, 16:06

  • Ofcom mulls legislation to save DAB

    A Freeview moment for digital radio?

    Parliament may need to step in with new legislation, to save the digital radio fail whale OFCOM admitted today. OFCOM's Peter Davies made the comments in front of a critical audience at the Radio Academy's Radio At The Edge conference today. Davies was put on the spot by moderator James Ashton. After years of trying to put a …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 2008, 16:25

  • Drive-by download attack mows down thousands of websites

    Chinese crackers pwn Warcraft gamers

    Miscreants are exploiting website vulnerabilities to booby-trap thousands of legitimate sites. The mass attack, thought to be the work of hackers based in China, hit between 2,000 and 10,000 Western servers at the end of last week alone, Russian net security firm Kaspersky Labs reports. Most of the hacked sites run Microsoft …

    Crime 10 Nov 2008, 16:37

  • Google fixes world's most stupid bug

    Android demonstrates inability to conquer world

    Google has issued a fix to the G1 handset, to stop it executing commands just because they appear in an entered text message - preventing punters from rebooting the handset just by typing the word "reboot". The bug can hardly be called a security problem, given it requires access to the handset, but the fact that until the fix …

    Mobile 10 Nov 2008, 16:42

  • Highfield joins Microsoft after just four months at Project Kangaroo

    Joey'd it

    After just four months in charge of web TV joint venture Project Kangaroo, ex-BBC tech chief Ashley Highfield has quit for a new job at Microsoft UK. The launch of Project Kangaroo, which will offer shows from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, has been forestalled by scrutiny from competition authorities. Rivals including Sky and …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 2008, 17:22

  • Halliburton seeks patent on patent trolling

    War profiteer eyes ultimate boondoggle

    Halliburton - the Texas-based company famous for pocketing billions from the war in Iraq - hopes to patent the art of patent trolling. In an 18-month-old application just released by the US Patent Office, Halliburton attorney Clive D. Menezes seeks exclusive rights to "patent acquisition and assertion by a (non-inventor) first …

    Law 10 Nov 2008, 18:57

  • Gates joins ex-Microsoft CTO to register patents

    Washington troll patrol

    Bill Gates is working with his former chief technology officer turned IP collector Nathan Myhrvold to register patents in a way that could help Microsoft monetize the internet. TechDirt has uncovered that Bill Gates is named as an inventor on nine patents registered with a company called Searete since he stepped down from day- …

    Law 10 Nov 2008, 19:29

  • Nortel losses $3.4bn in Q3

    1,300 heads will roll

    The economy is certainly doing no favors for Nortel Networks, North America's largest telecom equipment shop. Nortel today posted its largest quarterly loss in seven years, along with plans to cut 1,300 jobs, including several executive positions. The Toronto-based firm lost $3.4bn during its third calendar quarter 2008. …

    Financial News 10 Nov 2008, 19:32

  • UIQ staff put on notice

    Touched no more

    270 staff at UIQ - the graphical layer left homeless by the launch of the Symbian Foundation - have been put on notice that they could lose their jobs real soon now. But Sony Ericsson is going to cover their pay for the next month or two. The staff, most of whom are based in Sweden, were told on Wednesday that their jobs were …

    Mobile 10 Nov 2008, 19:36

  • Researchers hijack botnet for spam study

    Whipping up a Storm

    Pharmacy-touting spammers can turn a decent return on response rates as low as one in 12 million, far lower than previously thought. So say security researchers at the University of California, San Diego and UC Berkeley, who infiltrated the control system of the Storm botnet to research the economics of spam. At the peak of …

    Spam 10 Nov 2008, 19:50

  • One in ten DNS servers still vulnerable to poisoning

    1.3 million ticking time bombs

    Four months after researchers warned of a nasty design flaw in the net's address lookup system, more than 10 per cent of the servers used to resolve domain names on the internet remain "trivially vulnerable" to attack, a new study concludes. That translates to about 1.3 million domain name system servers that still have not …

    Security 10 Nov 2008, 20:12

  • YouTube goes spandex with MGM movie deal

    The lion meows tonight

    YouTube's position that full-length features have no place on the website is now nothing but a memory. The Google-owned operation has now inked a deal with MGM Studios to upload entire television shows and feature films to YouTube. Judging by MGM's initial offering, however, we'd say the lion isn't putting much faith into the …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 2008, 23:11

  • Time to manage virtual sprawl

    Let's get unphysical

    In some ways, virtual server sprawl is much worse than the physical server sprawl from the turn of the last millennium. At least with real servers, there is some physical limit - the size of the data center and the power delivered to it - that puts a limit on the number of machines system administrators create. Not so in a …

    Servers 10 Nov 2008, 23:44